Both the P40 and P40 Pro both feature HiSilicon Kirin 990 chipsets with 5G support, which means that this new lineup of devices will be able to connect to 5G networks in supported regions.
The company also announced the P40 Pro+ – an improved version of the Huawei P40 Pro which boasts an extra periscope lens and improved hardware specifications.
Other new features include an overhauled chassis design which uses a new Quad-Curved Overflow display that provides a bezel-less aesthetic.
This allows the OLED screen on the P40 Pro to wrap around the sides of the phone and make the display truly bezel-less.
“The Huawei P Series has always been about innovative aesthetics and making premium imaging hardware accessible, representing the very best of industrial design and technology,” said Huawei CBG CEO Richard Yu.
“With an outstanding sensor, camera systems that we co-engineered with Leica, powerful chipset and Huawei XD Fusion Engine, the Huawei P40 Series exemplifies our focus and offers an all-day Super Definition experience to help consumers realise their creative vision.”
Stylish design
Huawei has made another leap forward in mobile photography with its new flagship handsets, offering better picture and video quality as well as improved zoom functionality.
The display technology on the P40 Pro and P40 Pro+ is greatly improved from the previous generation. In addition to its new form factor, the display panels in these devices are now 90Hz and 120Hz respectively.
They also boast higher resolutions than their previous-generation counterparts.
Under these displays, the P40 Series devices still include in-screen fingerprint sensors for faster biometric unlock capabilities.
The Huawei P40 and P30 Pro feature ingress protection ratings of IP53 and IP68 respectively.
P40 Series smartphones also include support for dual SIM and eSIM capabilities.
Powerful hardware
The smartphones are powered by the Kirin 990 chipset, which is built on a cutting-edge 7nm architecture and includes support for powerful features such as GPU Turbo and on-chip AI processing.
In terms of camera hardware, the P40 boasts Leica triple-camera system with a telephoto, wide-angle, and ultra-wide angle lens.
The P40 Pro sports four lenses on its camera array and includes a time-of-flight depth sensor for improved bokeh effects.
Huawei’s top-of-the-range P40 Pro+ device boasts an advanced camera system with five lenses – including a 10x optical telephoto periscope lens.
This unique arrangement allows the Huawei P40 Pro+ to support up to 100x digital SuperZoom functionality for photos.
“This is the most powerful zoom on a smartphone ever,” Yu said.
The Huawei P40 Pro+ also boasts improved specifications compared to the P40 Pro and P40.
The P40 Pro+ can pack up to 512GB of storage, while the P40 Pro and P40 have 256GB and 128GB of storage space, respectively.
Huawei’s P40 Pro+ also boasts 12GB of RAM, with the other devices sporting 8GB of memory.
Software and availability
This new range of smartphones will run Huawei Mobile Services (HMS) instead of Google Mobile Services (GMS) on the Android 10 operating system.
HMS is a replacement for Google Mobile Services, which runs natively on Android devices and enables certain features and services.
The biggest change consumers will notice with HMS is that they will not be asked to log in to their Google account on startup. Instead, they will log in to their Huawei account, which will provide a similar underlying layer of functionality across the device.
Huawei also announced its own voice assistant which responds to “Hey Celia” and is positioned to compete with solutions such as Google Assistant, Bixby, and Siri.
“In future, we will launch the ‘Hey Celia’ AI assistant in more countries,” Yu said.
Huawei’s P40 and P40 Pro devices will be available in five colours: Black, Deep Sea Blue, Ice White, Silver Frost, and Blush Gold.
The Huawei P40 Pro Plus will be available in Ceramic Black and White.
Huawei also recently launched its P40 Lite mid-range smartphone, although this is not yet available to purchase in South Africa.
These new Huawei P40 Series smartphones will be priced as follows:
- P40 – €799 (Available from 7 April 2020)
- P40 Pro – €999 (Available from 7 April 2020)
- P40 Pro+ – €1,399 (Available from June 2020)
The specifications of these new smartphones are listed below.
P40 Pro+
| Huawei P40 Pro+ | |
|---|---|
| OS | Android 10.0 |
| Display | 6.7-inch 3,160 x 1,440 OLED 90Hz |
| Processor | HiSilicon Kirin 990 5G |
| RAM | 12GB |
| Storage | 128GB/256GB, Nano Memory Card |
| Front Camera | 32MP, TOF |
| Rear Camera | 52MP + 40MP + 8MP + 8MP Periscope + TOF |
| Biometrics | In-screen fingerprint sensor, facial recognition |
| Connectivity | 802.11ax Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 5.1, USB Type-C |
| Network | LTE/5G |
| Battery | 5,500mAh |
P40 Pro
| Huawei P40 Pro | |
|---|---|
| OS | Android 10.0 |
| Display | 6.58-inch 2,640 x 1,200 OLED 90Hz |
| Processor | HiSilicon Kirin 990 5G |
| RAM | 8GB |
| Storage | 128GB/256GB, Nano Memory Card |
| Front Camera | 32MP, TOF |
| Rear Camera | 50MP + 40MP + 12MP + TOF |
| Biometrics | In-screen fingerprint sensor, facial recognition |
| Connectivity | 802.11ax Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 5.1, USB Type-C |
| Network | LTE/5G |
| Battery | 4,200mAh |
P40
| Huawei P40 | |
|---|---|
| OS | Android 10.0 |
| Display | 6.1-inch 2,340 x 1,080 OLED |
| Processor | HiSilicon Kirin 990 5G |
| RAM | 8GB |
| Storage | 128GB, Nano Memory Card |
| Front Camera | 32MP |
| Rear Camera | 50MP + 16MP + 8MP |
| Biometrics | In-screen fingerprint sensor, facial recognition |
| Connectivity | 802.11ax Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 5.1, USB Type-C |
| Network | LTE/5G |
| Battery | 3,800mAh |
P40 Lite
| Huawei P40 Lite | |
|---|---|
| OS | Android 10.0 |
| Display | 6.4-inch 2,310 x 1,080 IPS LCD |
| Processor | HiSilicon Kirin 810 |
| RAM | 6GB |
| Storage | 128GB, Nano Memory Card |
| Front Camera | 16MP |
| Rear Camera | 48MP + 8MP + 2MP + 2MP |
| Biometrics | In-screen fingerprint sensor, facial recognition |
| Connectivity | 802.11ac Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 5.0, USB Type-C |
| Network | LTE |
| Battery | 4,200mAh |